Increasingly individuals from varied backgrounds and cultural experiences find themselves in contact with one another. But, “coming together” is often not a simple matter. There are “borders” between people that must be negotiated.
Globalization, immigration patterns, social media, and advancements in technology all underscore the need for cultivating intercultural understanding among people everywhere. Increasingly individuals from varied backgrounds and cultural experiences find themselves in contact with one another. But, “coming together” is often not a simple matter. There are “borders” between people that must be negotiated.
Borders contain. They are, after all, barricades: keeping something in and something out. They alienate, isolate, and segregate. In the end, they diminish.
“Borders” come in various shapes and sizes: national, cultural, gender, class, race, ethnic, linguistic, spiritual, to name a few. No matter what shape, however, borders limit who we are and who we can become. Only when they are crossed can it be possible for individuals to “come together,” engage in meaningful dialogue, and build trusting relationships.
Our mission is to encourage individuals and organizations to cross borders -- not only international, and intercultural, but any border that separates. Efforts are supported that somehow bring people together – when they cross the comfort of their own borders and enter unfamiliar territories forming new relationships.
William Coleman
Founder
As a Professor and former chair of the Department of Communication, University of Mount Union, William Coleman developed and taught courses that encouraged students to cross cultural borders. African American Rhetoric, Intercultural Communication, Peace Communication, American Indian Rhetoric, Social Movements, and Race & Class in American Society were a few.
In his academic career, Coleman continually crossed borders. Sabbaticals were taken to Germany to study the Green Party, Mexico City and Arizona and New Mexico for North American Indian study, and the Tesuque Pueblo (Santa Fe, New Mexico) to study American Indian culture. Coleman has lectured at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Peking University, Hefei University (Anhui Province) in the Peoples Republic of China, and Baika University in Osaka, Japan. He has led student trips to the Tesuque Pueblo Reservation and Peking University in Beijing and travelled throughout Europe, China, Japan, Penang, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Mexico City.
He has worked closely with Hiroshima Jogakuin University and High School, and the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation and was a faculty advisor to Mount Union’s Association of International Students for 15 years.
He is currently Professor Emeritus and Adjunct Professor, Department of Communication, University of Mount Union and a member of the Board of Directors, Asian Services in Action, Inc.
The Foundation Advisory Board:
Collectively, members of this group have had years of international experience including travel, teaching, and directing student trips to Asia and Europe and serves as the Foundation’s core advisors.
- Jamie Capuzza, Ph.D., Professor of Communication and Gender Studies
- Hong Cao, B.A., Multimedia Production Specialist
- Debra L. Clark, Ph.D., Professor of Education
- Naoko Oyabu-Mathis, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Emeritus
- Liangwu Yin, Ph.D., Professor of History and Asian Studies, Emeritus
Foundation Associates:
The Foundation Associates have all attended universities in the U.S. with most currently residing and working in their respective country. As representatives of the Foundation, the Associates are a brainstorming group devoted to generating ideas, providing vital feedback and helping to implement Foundation projects in their home countries.
- Anh Hoang, Hanoi
- Eng Kait Lim, Singapore
- Keiko Miyahara, Tokyo
- Kyoko Niiyama, Hiroshima
- Daphne Sim, Penang and New Zealand
- Noriko Kobayashi Suzuki, Fukuoka, Japan
- Guopeng Wang, Beijing
- Fumin Yang, Peoples Republic of China and USA
- Dr. Michelle Murray-Yang, Peoples Republic of China and USA
- Meihua Zhu, Wuhan, Peoples Republic of China
- Victoria Lygdenova, Republic of Buryatia and Novosibirsk (Russia)
